Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the expected distributional impact is of the 2025 Budget measures on households in the North West of England.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government is committed to growing living standards in all parts of the country in a fair and progressive manner, and has acted at Budget 2025 to cut the cost of living for households across the nation.

HM Treasury’s ‘Impact on households’ publication, produced alongside the 2025 Budget, shows that the impacts of government tax, welfare and public service spending decisions from Autumn Budget 2024 onwards. This analysis can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69269c6222424e25e6bc31bb/Impact_on_households.pdf

HM Treasury does not produce a distributional assessment of policy decisions at a subnational level.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the 2025 Budget on local authority funding settlements in the North West of England for 2025–26.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Final local authority funding allocations for financial year 2025-26 were confirmed at the Final local government finance settlement: England, 2025 to 2026. There are no plans to review the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement in view of the 2025 Autumn Budget.

We will publish the provisional multi-year Settlement in December. Proposals and allocations will be subject to consultation and the usual Parliamentary process.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 25 of the Modern Industrial Strategy: Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, published on 23 June 2025, what steps her Department is taking to support access to (a) skills courses and (b) technical colleges for food and drink manufacturers.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Our Post-16 education and skills white paper sets out plans to equip people with the skills and knowledge to succeed, drive growth, and support national renewal. We are introducing rigorous new qualifications so that all learners have access to high quality study pathways and can progress to employment or further study. Apprenticeships are being transformed with a new growth and skills offer, including new foundation apprenticeships in targeted sectors launched in August, shorter apprenticeships available, and short, flexible training courses starting April 2026 to meet business needs.

We are also establishing technical excellence colleges (TECs) in the Industrial Strategy growth-driving sectors. This includes 4 advanced manufacturing TECs, with delivery beginning from April 2026. Advanced Manufacturing TECs will help secure a skilled workforce pipeline and will focus on skills provision for key subsector specialisms such as agri-tech, which may include supporting improvements to the efficiency and productivity of food production, ultimately benefiting the food and drink manufacturing industry.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of potential changes in the level of demand for insulation and heating upgrades following the reduction of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO).

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The government recognises that demand for energy efficiency upgrades will remain strong. To bring energy bills down for all, the decision has been made not to continue the Energy Company Obligation when the current scheme ends.

The government has instead committed an additional £1.5bn of grant funding, which will be directed to upgrading low-income households, benefiting those in fuel poverty. The details of this will be set out in the Warm Homes Plan.

The government continues to improve home energy efficiency through schemes, such as the Warm Home: Social Decarbonisation, Warm Homes: Local Grant and the Boiler Upgrade scheme.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on local employment and SME supply chains of reducing the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme.

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

To bring domestic energy bills down for all, ECO will not continue when the current schemes end. Government recognises that this is likely to have an impact on some companies in the supply chain.

Government has instead committed additional grant funding of £1.5 billion, which will be directed to upgrading low-income households, benefiting those in fuel poverty. Government will set out the details of this in the Warm Homes Plan.

Government continues to improve home energy efficiency through other existing schemes, such as the Warm Home: Social Housing Fund, Warm Homes: Local Grant and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she had made of the potential impact of changes to pension salary sacrifice relief on the number of people saving for retirement in the Fylde constituency.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Automatic enrolment into pension saving has driven up the number of employees saving for retirement. The existing income tax relief regime for pensions is unaffected by this change, whilst employer contributions can continue to be made free of National Insurance Contributions (NICs).

At £2,000 cap means the majority of people usoing salary sacrifice for pension saving will be entirely unaffected by this change. Individuals earning below £30,000 are overwhelmingly protected, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold. employee pension contributions up to £2,000.

In line with the OBR assessment of this change, the costing assumes some employer costs will be passed through into lower employer pension contributions. The government continues to support and incentivise pension saving, with tax relief worth over £70bn per year, even after this change. Employers must continue to meet their automatic enrolment obligations. The policy balances encouragement of pension saving with ensuring the system remains fiscally sustainable and fair.

A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published in due course alongside the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has considered recognising listed church buildings as national heritage assets in the tax system.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Church buildings are not usually owned by individuals and so are not usually chargeable to inheritance tax. Where an individual inherits and wishes to retain heritage property they can claim Conditional Exemption, so that there is no inheritance tax for as long as the property is maintained and open to the public to enjoy.

Comprehensive guidance is available on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-taxation-and-tax-exempt-heritage-assets

Otherwise, gifts of property to charities or to a recognised National Body (listed at https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm11224 ) would be exempt from inheritance tax.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the 2025 Budget’s changes to personal taxation on average earners in the Fylde constituency.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government has published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) setting out the impact of maintaining income Tax and equivalent National Insurance contributions thresholds.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the new Electric Vehicle Excise Duty mileage charge from April 2028 on Electric Vehicle uptake.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government intends to create a fair motoring tax system while supporting the automotive industry and ensuring EVs remain an attractive choice for consumers.

As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that EVs contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty.

While it is fair for EV drivers to contribute for their car usage, the government is also committed to ensuring that driving an electric vehicle is an attractive choice for consumers. Therefore, the rate of eVED paid by electric vehicle drivers will be half the fuel duty rate paid by the average petrol/diesel driver, ensuring that it will still be cheaper to own and run an EV for the majority of EV drivers.

The Government is also providing generous additional support to incentivise the use of electric vehicles, including £1.3 billion of additional funding for the Electric Car Grant (ECG), £200 million for chargepoint rollout, and increasing the Expensive Car Supplement (ECS) threshold to £50,000 for EVs. This support will be introduced before the tax takes effect to support continued momentum in EV take-up.

The Government has set out the expected impacts from eVED and other Budget measures in the Budget 2025 Policy Costings document at GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/692872fd2a37784b16ecf676/Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the administrative cost to local authorities of implementing the High Value Council Tax Surcharge from April 2028.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government has set out, in its guidance, that it will carry out a new burdens assessment to ensure local authorities are fully funded for these costs.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the VAT-recovery cap on the number of listed places of worship that are proceeding with planned repair or reordering works.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS Ministers received advice on changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, including consideration of the potential impact on introducing an annual cap of £25,000 per place of worship for the 2025/26 financial year.

The changes to the scheme were necessary given the level of fiscal challenges we inherited and the pressures on other parts of the heritage and cultural sectors. Based on the Department’s analysis of previous data, 94% of applications will be unaffected by the change, as most claims are under £5,000.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure there are sufficient rail services on alternative routes when planned maintenance works cause the closure of lines.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Network Rail plans its timetables 12 months in advance, meaning it can schedule in the time needed for planned works to improve the network. Network Rail plan works that cause the least disruption to passengers and include Bank Holidays, Sundays, and overnight when the network is less busy.

However, when planned engineering works necessitate the closure of lines, train operating companies provide alternative transport and travel arrangements to help passengers complete their journeys. Alternative transport provision may include rail replacement services, ticket acceptance on other routes/operators, or diverted trains.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to publish data relating to carbon offsetting for all government flights.

Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Government does not have a general policy of carbon offsetting flights.

Prime Ministerial flights are carbon offset where that is possible. The yearly payment to carbon offset flights using the G-GBNI aircraft is calculated at the end of each financial year based on the flights that have taken place to ensure accuracy.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of households in Fylde who will be brought into paying income tax or higher tax bands as a result of extending the freeze on income tax personal allowance.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The number of people forecast to pay tax by marginal rate can be found in Table 3.19 in the OBR’s November 2025 Economic and fiscal outlook – detailed forecast tables: receipts, linked below:

https://obr.uk/download/november-2025-economic-and-fiscal-outlook-detailed-forecast-tables-receipts/?tmstv=1764165511

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what replacement scheme will support energy efficiency for low-income households after ECO4 ends on 31 March 2026.

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The government has committed to additional grant funding of £1.5bn which will be directed to upgrading low-income households, benefitting those in fuel poverty. This will take total Warm Homes Plan funding to around £15 billion; more details will be set out soon. The government continues to improve home energy efficiency through Warm Homes: Social Housing Decarbonisation, Warm Homes: Local Government and the ongoing Boiler Upgrade Scheme supporting thousands of households to upgrade their heating systems.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ringfencing receipts from the international student levy for funding in higher education and skills.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As set out in the Budget Document, the income raised by the Levy will be fully reinvested into higher education and skills, including to fund maintenance grants for disadvantaged students studying priority courses.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on school attendance rates in Fylde constituency.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The department publishes figures from the school census on pupil absence in England. The latest data covers the autumn and spring terms of the 2024/25 academic year and is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2024-25-autumn-and-spring-term. Local authority data is available in the release. School level data is also available in this release and includes school identifiers that can be used to link the parliamentary constituency for the school using the ‘Get Information About Schools’ website: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. This absence release has been available since 23 October 2025.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2025 to Question 91601 on Prime Minister: Climate Change Convention, on what basis possibility is assessed in respect of publishing offsetting data.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Prime Ministerial flights are carbon offset where that is possible. This takes into account a range of factors. GBNI flights are carbon offset at the end of the financial year. Information about official overseas travel is published as part of the Cabinet Office transparency returns and made available on the GOV.UK website, in line with the approach of successive administrations.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many new enquiries were opened into child benefit claims which were suspended from claimants as a result of data-sharing between HMRC and the Home Office in the period 1st to 30th November 2025.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

There were no new Child Benefit compliance enquiries opened using Home Office international travel data in the period 1st to 30th November 2025. This is because our focus during that time was on reviewing the c. 23,500 already opened.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many special advisers and officials in total from all government departments were in attendance at COP30.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

I refer the Noble Lord to the answer of 17 November 2025, Official Report, PQ 88937.

PQ 88937 Andrew Snowden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) civil servants and (b) support staff attended the COP30 summit; and for what reason.

Cabinet Office response on 17 Nov: Ministerial travel is undertaken using efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements. Security considerations are also taken into account. Information about official overseas travel is published as part of the Cabinet Office transparency returns and made available on the GOV.UK website. It has been the practice that official Prime Ministerial flights are carbon offset where that is possible. Civil Servants and Special Advisers routinely travel with the Prime Minister, including so as to provide support in the conduct of any official duties, which can arise at any time.